albermarle

Can anyone tell me about the Albemarle light bomber?

--
G Walker

"George Walker" wrote in message
...
Can anyone tell me about the Albemarle light bomber?

--
G Walker



Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle. WW2 bomber and glider tug. The first British
military aircraft to be fitted with a tricycle undercarriage. Made almost
exclusively of wood and steel because of wartime shortages of aluminium.
Parts manufacture very widely distrubuted - many made by furniture makers,
shopfitters etc with little or no previous aircraft manufacturing
experience. Used as light bomber, and later as a glider tug. Dimensions:
span 77ft; length 59ft 11in. Max speed 250mph; normal range 1350 miles. Poer
plant: 2 x Bristol Hercules XI engines. No pic I'm afraid, but from what I
recall, the Albemarle looked a little like the Bristol Blenheim.

Bill

Bill wrote:
"George Walker" wrote in message
...

Can anyone tell me about the Albemarle light bomber?

--
G Walker




Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle. WW2 bomber and glider tug. The first British
military aircraft to be fitted with a tricycle undercarriage. Made almost
exclusively of wood and steel because of wartime shortages of aluminium.
Parts manufacture very widely distrubuted - many made by furniture makers,
shopfitters etc with little or no previous aircraft manufacturing
experience. Used as light bomber, and later as a glider tug. Dimensions:
span 77ft; length 59ft 11in. Max speed 250mph; normal range 1350 miles. Poer
plant: 2 x Bristol Hercules XI engines. No pic I'm afraid, but from what I
recall, the Albemarle looked a little like the Bristol Blenheim.

Bill



A failure in its intended role - but used as a glider tug and transport
- as Bill says.

Supplied to the Soviets - and used by them as freighters were they were
very popular.

I am just reading about it - in 'British Secret Projects - Fighters &
Bombers 1935 - 1950' by Tony Buttler.

602 were delivered, but it had no advantage over current types and was
going to be outclassed by the new Stirling & Halifax.

It was mainly designed to use 'non-strategic' materials (wood, steel
tube etc), but it suffered as a result.

Ken

George Walker wrote in message ...
Can anyone tell me about the Albemarle light bomber?


Started off in 1938 as a design for a fast bomber carrying 4,000
pounds of bombs, capable of delivering them in a 30 degree dive.

Specification was amended to use non strategic materials.

The original engine was the Taurus, this was changed to the Merlin
X, along with the dropping of the 30 degree dive requirement, then
the engines became the much heavier Hercules. 200 ordered off
the drawing board. First flight 20 March 1940, tests showed the
need for a larger wingspan. Engine overheating reduced performance.
Tricycle undercarriage, a first for UK built warplanes.

2 Prototypes, 42 mark I bombers, one of which became the transport
conversion prototype, Transport production 78 ST Mark I, 80 GT mark I,
99 ST mark II, 1 GT mark II, 1 mark IV, 49 GT mark VI, 133 ST mark VI,
and 112 GT mark VI (ST special transport, GT glider tug). 600 production
aircraft. 10 sent to the USSR. Not used as a bomber by the RAF.

Span 77 feet , length 59 feet 11 inches, top speed 265 mph at 10,500
feet, ceiling 18,000 feet, range 1,300 miles at 170 mph. All up weight
as a bomber 36,500 pounds. 2 1,590 HP Bristol Hercules XI engines.

The RAF preferred the Mosquito.

Geoffrey Sinclair
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